"The Ultimate (roller coaster) The Ultimate is a steel roller coaster at Lightwater Valley amusement park, near the small cathedral city of Ripon, in North Yorkshire, England. In 1991, it took the record of longest roller coaster in the world from The Beast at Kings Island. Following the opening of Steel Dragon 2000 in Japan, it became the second longest roller coaster in the world but still remained the longest in Europe. ""The Ultimate"" represented an investment of £5.2 million and was the concept of the park's original owner, Robert Staveley. Construction work began in early 1990 and took eighteen"
"Lightwater Valley Lightwater Valley is a theme park in North Stainley, North Yorkshire, England. The park is perhaps best known for being the home of Europe’s longest rollercoaster - The Ultimate. Lightwater Valley was founded by Mr Robert Staveley and initially evolved from a small farm attraction. The park features around 40 other rides and also features an adjacent shopping village and restaurant. The park is now owned and managed by Livingstone Leisure Ltd. The park attracts approximately 500,000 visitors per year. In 1969 Lightwater Valley started life as a small self-pick fruit farm attraction which was quite popular with"
"enabling the park to move away from the conventional oil-based heating system. In addition, a new ground-mounted photovoltaic array was installed in the adjacent fields which has supplied up to 45% of the park's energy demand. The park remains committed to reducing its carbon footprint as part of Heritage GB's wider commitments to invest in green energy and environmental policy. Lightwater Valley Lightwater Valley is a theme park in North Stainley, North Yorkshire, England. The park is perhaps best known for being the home of Europe’s longest rollercoaster - The Ultimate. Lightwater Valley was founded by Mr Robert Staveley and"
"Awards. The park is host to many records, including the largest number of roller coasters of any park in the United Kingdom with ten, of which four are wooden: the Big Dipper, Blue Flyer, Grand National and Nickelodeon Streak. Many of the roller coasters in the park are record breaking attractions. When it opened in 1994, the Big One was the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world. It was also the steepest, with an incline angle of 65° and one of the longest, measuring . Currently, the ride holds the record as the tallest roller coaster in the"
"The Smiler The Smiler is a steel roller coaster located at Alton Towers in Staffordshire, United Kingdom. Manufactured by Gerstlauer, it features 14 inversions and holds the world record for most inversions on a roller coaster. The Smiler has suffered a series of setbacks and ride incidents, including a malfunction at a press preview event which delayed the official opening date by two months, and in 2015, a major collision that left five riders seriously injured. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive was initiated, and the ride was closed for the remainder of that season. The ride eventually"
"on boxes of Krave cereal. The Smiler The Smiler is a steel roller coaster located at Alton Towers in Staffordshire, United Kingdom. Manufactured by Gerstlauer, it features 14 inversions and holds the world record for most inversions on a roller coaster. The Smiler has suffered a series of setbacks and ride incidents, including a malfunction at a press preview event which delayed the official opening date by two months, and in 2015, a major collision that left five riders seriously injured. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive was initiated, and the ride was closed for the remainder of"
"underway that a colleague exclaimed that there couldn't be a roller coaster longer than the one they were building. Later that day, a colleague was sent to Ripon to buy the Guinness Book of Records which indeed confirmed that the length of track that Staveley had ordered was well over the record. The Ultimate has two trains. One train is red in colour whilst the other is turquoise. The trains also used to have over-the-shoulder-restraints until 1992 when they were removed and replaced with lap bar restraints to improve the ride experience. In 2016 Lightwater Valley will be celebrating 25"
"Speed: No Limits Speed: No Limits is a roller coaster at Oakwood Theme Park, Pembrokeshire, UK. It is a Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter and contains a 90° chain lift hill and a 97° first drop. The ride was installed by Ride Entertainment Group, who handles all of Gerstlauer's operations in the Western Hemisphere. Its lift hill and first drop tower can be seen from a distance away. It is the tallest, fastest and steepest roller coaster in Wales. The ride uses four trains, each consisting of two rows, each with four across seating and can carry eight people per train. The trains"
"York park and ride York park and ride is a park & ride system operated by City of York Council in the English city of York. It is the largest in the United Kingdom with 4,970 car spaces. The first park & ride site was established on Tadcaster Road in 1990. Since then it has expanded and today six routes operate. It has been operated by First York under contract to the City of York Council since the late 1990s. In June 2016, the contract was put up for tender. However none of the bids met the council's expectations, resulting"
"months to complete before the opening to the public on 17 July 1991. While ""The Ultimate"" was designed by Big Country Motioneering, they were not involved with the completion of the project. Lightwater Valley's owner got engineers from British Rail to oversee the construction. A few sections of track on the second half of the ride were redesigned to change their banking. The track was made by ""Tubular Engineering"". Set within of woodland, ""The Ultimate"" takes passengers on a 7 minute 34 second ride along of tubular steel track (an average of ), with two lift hills of respectively ("
"train. His wife suggested that the train be sent out to the top and then returned with the aid of two drops. In 1990 construction began on the world's longest rollercoaster, costing £5.2 million and over in length, The Ultimate was opened to the public in 1991 (see below for more information). Additional rides and attractions were added throughout the decade, including roller coasters such as 'The Viper', 'The Batflyer' (both opening in 1996), and arguably one of the most popular all time favourites, 'The Ladybird' (1993). Water rides such as 'The Beaver Rapids' log flume (2000), and the 'Falls"
"Loch Ness Monster (roller coaster) The Loch Ness Monster is a steel roller coaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, noted at the time of its opening in 1978 as the world's tallest and fastest roller coaster, as well as the first coaster with two interlocking loops. The Loch Ness remains the only roller coaster with two interlocking loops—other similar designs having been dismantled. In addition to the loops, which link over one of the park's water features, the design includes a helix tunnel, two lift hills and a drop. The ride sits within the park's Scottish hamlet, ""Heatherdowns"", and relates the"
"Jubilee Odyssey Odyssey (formerly Jubilee Odyssey) is a roller coaster at Fantasy Island in Ingoldmells, England. Built by Vekoma of the Netherlands in 2002, it was named to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. It is Vekoma's tallest example of their Suspended Looping Coaster (SLC) design in the world. Standing at 167 feet (51 metres), it is the third tallest roller coaster in the UK, after the Pepsi Max Big One (213 feet) and Stealth (205 feet). It has a maximum speed of 63 mph and is capable of forces up to 4.8g. Original plans for the ride"
"five inversions: Jubilee Odyssey Odyssey (formerly Jubilee Odyssey) is a roller coaster at Fantasy Island in Ingoldmells, England. Built by Vekoma of the Netherlands in 2002, it was named to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. It is Vekoma's tallest example of their Suspended Looping Coaster (SLC) design in the world. Standing at 167 feet (51 metres), it is the third tallest roller coaster in the UK, after the Pepsi Max Big One (213 feet) and Stealth (205 feet). It has a maximum speed of 63 mph and is capable of forces up to 4.8g. Original plans for"
"The 5th Dimension (ride) The 5th Dimension was a dark ride at the Chessington World of Adventures Resort in southwest London, England, when the theme park opened and was the first major special effects attraction of its kind in the UK. The ride closed at the end of the 1993 season and was replaced by Terror Tomb, which in turn has been replaced by Tomb Blaster. The ride was designed with cars that could stop and rotate to face what was happening in the scene; the same transit system is in use today. The ride opened in the summer of"
"for title of best roller coaster in England, while Nemesis Inferno received 0.32%. Jeremy Thompson of Roller Coaster Philosophy describes Nemesis as ""a vastly superior ride"" to Nemesis Inferno. Nemesis (roller coaster) Nemesis is an inverted roller coaster located at the Alton Towers theme park in England. The ride's concept and layout was devised by designer John Wardley. It was manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) and opened in March 1994. It is located in the Forbidden Valley area of the park, adjacent to Galactica (previously ""Air""), a Bolliger & Mabillard flying roller coaster, and The Blade, a HUSS Park"
"ride with an adult, and over 1.1m tall to ride separately. As of 2013 it is officially the park's oldest roller coaster, after The Beastie was removed prior to the 2013 season. On 20 July 2006 the failure of a coupling on the train caused it to split into two sections, which then collided in the tunnel. 20 people were injured, 6 of whom were taken to hospital; 4 of the 6 were sent home, and 2 were kept in overnight. On 6 April 2007 the Runaway Mine Train reopened after being closed for over 8 months. The train was"
"completed early 2019. There are also On-Ride photo kiosks for the Scenic Railway, Log Flume, Big Apple and Snails rides. Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach The Pleasure Beach Great Yarmouth is a historic free entry pleasure park located in the seaside resort town of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, on the English east coast. The park first opened in 1909 and has been operating ever since. The largest and most popular ride at the park is the Roller Coaster which was built there in 1932. There are also around thirty other large rides at the park, as well as children's entertainment, amusement arcades,"
"Nemesis (roller coaster) Nemesis is an inverted roller coaster located at the Alton Towers theme park in England. The ride's concept and layout was devised by designer John Wardley. It was manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) and opened in March 1994. It is located in the Forbidden Valley area of the park, adjacent to Galactica (previously ""Air""), a Bolliger & Mabillard flying roller coaster, and The Blade, a HUSS Park Attractions pirate ship ride. The ride stands tall and features a top speed of . The four-inversion roller coaster was one of the first Bolliger & Mabillard rides to"
"United Kingdom, standing at , with a first drop of . The park was the first in Europe to introduce a fully inverting steel coaster, Revolution and is the last remaining park in the world to still operate a Steeplechase roller coaster. The Grand National is one of only three Möbius Loop coasters in existence, where a singular track ""loops"" around itself, offering a facsimile out-and-back layout and creating a ""racing"" effect on two parallel tracks. ""Sir Hiram Maxims Captive Flying Machine"" is the oldest amusement park ride in Europe having opened in August 1904. At a cost of £15"
"The Beast (roller coaster) The Beast is a wooden roller coaster located at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio. Built in-house by the park, it opened in 1979 as the tallest, fastest, and longest wooden roller coaster in the world. Decades later, The Beast is still the longest at , spanning more than and utilizing the surrounding terrain for many of its elements. Two lift hills contribute to the ride's duration of more than four minutes, which also ranks as one of the longest among roller coasters. The Beast has been rated in the industry as one of the top roller"
"at that time the steepest roller coaster in the United Kingdom, only being overtaken by the opening of Thorpe Park's Euro-Fighter ""Saw"": The Ride in 2009 and Mumbo Jumbo at Flamingo Land Resort in the summer of 2009. The CCI-built wooden roller coaster ""Megafobia"" has been rated among the best in Europe by enthusiasts. In 2016 it celebrated 20 years at Oakwood. Until March 2008, Oakwood Leisure Ltd. was owned and developed by the McNamara family, Pembrokeshire farmland owners who diversified into the leisure industry in 1987 after the introduction of milk quotas. The park took twelve months to research."
"Big One (roller coaster) Big One, formerly known as Pepsi Max Big One, is a steel roller coaster located at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in Blackpool, Lancashire, in the United Kingdom. Designed by Ron Toomer and manufactured by Arrow Dynamics, the ride opened to the public on 28 May 1994, as the tallest roller coaster in the world. It held the record until July 1996, when Fujiyama opened at Fuji-Q Highland in Japan. Big One remains the tallest in the UK, and following the 2011 season, Pepsi Max was removed from its official name. Big One's construction began in 1992 by"
"Corkscrew (Alton Towers) Corkscrew was a steel roller coaster manufactured by Dutch company Vekoma to a design by Arrow Dynamics. The coaster was located in the Ug Land area of Alton Towers in Staffordshire, England. It was the park's oldest ride and is considered the greatest factor in promoting the new theme park to the British public. It was one of the first double-inverting coasters in Europe (the first in the UK), so it received much publicity and avid popularity in the 1980s. Waiting times for the ride frequently reached 6–9 hours during the first few months of operation at"
"testified the mist sprayed only water – and had been subsequently removed, independent of the suit, for unknown reasons. Loch Ness Monster (roller coaster) The Loch Ness Monster is a steel roller coaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, noted at the time of its opening in 1978 as the world's tallest and fastest roller coaster, as well as the first coaster with two interlocking loops. The Loch Ness remains the only roller coaster with two interlocking loops—other similar designs having been dismantled. In addition to the loops, which link over one of the park's water features, the design includes a helix"
"that Chatham, Rochester, Strood, Upnor, Gravesend, Sheerness, Sittingbourne, Faversham, Herne Bay, Whitstable, Dover and Margate were declared one incident. Dreamland amusement park was established in the 1920s and is home to the oldest Roller Coaster in the UK namely the wooden Scenic Railway. Dreamland and the Scenic Railway were closed at the end of the 2006 season, and reopened in 2015 following rejuvenation of the park and full restoration of the Scenic Railway. Margate has been served by several windmills over the centuries. This mill was marked on Robert Morden's map of 1695, Harris's map of 1719 and Bowen's map"
"to coaster riders or the birds. The crows were also observed to be seemingly undisturbed by the coaster's operation. Rage (roller coaster) Rage is a steel roller coaster situated at Adventure Island in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. Rage is a Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter model roller coaster (the 6th overall to be built). At 97 degrees, it is steeper-than-vertical and tied for the third steepest roller coaster in the United Kingdom. Designed by Werner Stengel, the coaster opened on 10 February 2007. When it was built, the coaster became the tallest structure in the park and one of the tallest structures in the"
"Joyland (Great Yarmouth) Joyland is a historic free entry amusement park located in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, on the coast of East Anglia. The theme park opened in 1949 on the site of the former Anchor Gardens next to Britannia Pier. The park is famous locally and across the country for the Snails and Tyrolean Tubs rides designed and manufactured by engineering entrepreneur Horace Cole and the family-owned engineering business. The Tyrolean Tubs is notable as the only Virginia Reel roller coaster (albeit in miniature form) in operation in the world. Joyland is renowned for its heritage rides, which have remained"
"Roller Coaster (Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach) Roller Coaster – also known as Scenic Railway or The Scenic – is a wooden roller coaster at Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach, Great Yarmouth, UK. The ride was built at the park in 1932 and has remained operational. It stands and operates as the only remaining ride of its kind in the UK; and one of only eight in the world. It is one of only two remaining roller coasters where a 'brakeman' is required to ride with the train, to control its speed as there are no brakes on the track. It is"
"Scenic Railway (roller coaster) The Scenic Railway is a wooden roller coaster located at the Dreamland Amusement Park in Margate, UK. It first opened in 1920 and is the oldest roller coaster in the UK. The ride is distinctive compared to modern-day roller coasters, as a brakeman is still required to travel with the train to control its speed, manually applying brakes when needed. It is also one of only eight scenic railways in the world, and the UK's English Heritage granted the roller coaster Grade II listed status in 2002 and Grade II* listed status in 2011. The Scenic"
"Millennium Roller Coaster Millennium Roller Coaster is a roller coaster at Fantasy Island in Ingoldmells, England. It was built by Vekoma, a Dutch roller coaster manufacturer, to celebrate the arrival of the new millennium but despite its name, was opened in May 1999. It was Fantasy Island's first ""Extreme Thrill Ride"", and circles the parks centre piece, the Pyramid. The ride features a vertical loop, a side winder and another loop. It finishes in a low helix, which swoops down to a level just above head height of those in the amusement park, frequently startling the unsuspecting public. Some of"
"followed by additional supports on the turnaround and the mid course brake section. The roller coaster opened as Pepsi Max Big One on 28 May 1994. It was both the tallest and steepest roller coaster in the world when it debuted, but it was not the fastest. The Big One's height record was surpassed by Fujiyama in July 1996, but it remains the tallest roller coaster in the UK as well as the country's second-fastest. Big One was also one of the longest, as its out-and-back roller coaster layout measures nearly a mile in length at . Its top speed"
"second most visited theme park in the UK after Legoland Windsor. The park features a range of major attractions, such as Congo River Rapids, Runaway Mine Train, Nemesis, Oblivion, Galactica, The Smiler, and Wicker Man. It operates a total of ten roller coasters. The first hotel accommodation opened in 1996 as the Alton Towers Hotel. The Alton Towers Waterpark and a Caribbean-themed Splash Landings Hotel were added in 2003. The Enchanted Village opened in 2015, and a new hotel based on the CBeebies brand opened in July 2017. The complex also includes conference facilities, a crazy golf course, and a"